Are non communicable diseases increasing in India? (GS Paper 2, Health)
Why in news?
- The new national estimates for diabetes and other non-communicable diseases (NCD) shows that 31 million more Indians became diabetic in four years (2019-2021).
What were the findings?
- In 2021, a study found that India has 101 million people with diabetes and 136 million people with prediabetes.
- Additionally, 315 million people had high blood pressure; 254 million had generalised obesity, and 351 million had abdominal obesity.
- 213 million people had hypercholesterolaemia (wherein fat collects in arteries and puts individuals at greater risk of heart attack and strokes) and 185 million had high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.
- The decade-long nationwide study was funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research and Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and co-ordinated by the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation.
What is the significance of the study?
- The study is the first comprehensive epidemiological research paper which includes participants from 31 States and some Union Territories, with a large sample size of 1,13,043 individuals. There are two big trend indicators in the study.
- First, diabetes and other metabolic non-communicable diseases, such as hypertension, obesity and dyslipidemia are much more common than estimated previously in India and second, while currently urban regions had higher rates of all metabolic NCDs than rural areas, with the exception of prediabetes, rural India will see a diabetes explosion in the next five years if left unregulated.
- The study also highlights interstate and inter-regional variations. The highest diabetes prevalence was found in Goa, Puducherry and Kerala. While prediabetes was prevalent in Sikkim, hypertension was highest in Punjab.
- Generalised obesity and abdominal obesity were highest in Puducherry, while Kerala had high hypercholesterolemia and high LDL cholestrol. The lowest prevalence of NCDs was found in U.P., Mizoram, Meghalaya and Jharkhand.
- This cross-sectional, population based survey of adults aged above 20 years, across the country uses a stratified, multistage sampling design in the study titled, “Metabolic non-communicable health report of India-the ICMR-INDIAB National Cross-sectional Study.”
- While the diabetes epidemic is stabilising in the more developed States of the country, it is still increasing in most of the other States. Thus, there are serious implications for the nation, warranting urgent State-specific policies and interventions to arrest the rapidly rising epidemic of metabolic NCDs in India.
How does this study impact India?
- While India in the past four years has substantially added to its burden of diabetics and hypertensive persons with generalised and abdominal obesity, the study gives an early warning that if not controlled, this population is predisposed to NCDs and life-altering medical conditions including strokes.
- Experts have explained that India is facing the dual problem of malnutrition and obesity. There is availability of surplus food, but after being exposed to fast foods, a lack of sleep, exercise and stress creates a perfect setting for NCDs to latch-on.
What is the way forward?
- The answer to this developing problem, is in wellness and in having a lifestyle that encompasses healthy diet and exercise. NCDs have also been one of the major concerns of the Health Ministry.
- It has identified the four major NCDs; cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes. They all share four behavioural risk factors, unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity, and use of tobacco and alcohol.
- Programmes have been brought in to strengthen health infrastructure, human resource development, health-promotion and awareness-generation for prevention, early diagnosis and ensuring referrals to appropriate healthcare facilities for NCDs.
Uniform Civil Code, What is it and what are the arguments against it?
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Why in news?
- The 22nd Law Commission of India recently sought fresh suggestions from various stakeholders, including public and religious organisations on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC).
- The commission sought suggestions as the consultation paper issued by the previous law commission on the subject was more than three years old.
- UCC calls for the formulation of one law for India, which would be applicable to all religious communities in matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, maintenance, and adoption.
What is UCC?
- The term ‘Uniform Civil Code’ is mentioned in Part IV, Article 44 of the Indian Constitution. Article 44 states that "the State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India".
- Part IV of the Constitution outlines the Directive Principles of State Policy, which, while not enforceable or justiciable in a court of law, are fundamental to the country’s governance.
- The objective of Article 44 was to address discrimination against vulnerable groups and harmonise diverse cultural groups across the country.
- Dr B R Ambedkar, while formulating the Constitution, had said that a UCC is desirable but, for the moment, it should remain voluntary, and thus Article 35 of the draft Constitution was added as a part of the Directive Principles of the State Policy in Part IV of the Constitution of India as Article 44.
- It was incorporated in the Constitution as an aspect that would be fulfilled when the nation would be ready to accept it and the social acceptance to the UCC could be made.
Origin of the Uniform Civil Code
- The debate for a uniform civil code dates back to the colonial period in India. In 1835, the British government tried to reform local social and religious customs and stressed upon the need for uniformity in the codification of Indian law relating to crimes, evidence, and contracts, specifically recommending that personal laws of Hindus and Muslims be kept outside such codification.
- Under the East India Company, the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act was passed in 1937 to formulate an Islamic law code for Indian Muslims. It had no uniformity in its application at lower courts due to the diversity of the local cultures of Muslims in different parts of India.
- The increase in legislation by British rule forced the government to form the B N Rau Committee to codify the Hindu law in 1941. The task of the Hindu Law Committee was to examine the question of the necessity of common Hindu laws.
- The committee recommended a codified Hindu law, which would give equal rights to women. The 1937 Act was reviewed and the committee recommended a civil code of marriage and succession for Hindus.
Mohd Ahmed Khan vs Shah Bano Begum case (1985)
- Shah Bano (73) was divorced by her husband through triple talaq, and she was denied maintenance. She approached the court demanding maintenance for herself and her five children after her divorce from her husband.
- The Supreme Court ruled in her favour under the “maintenance of wives, children and parents” provision (Section 125) of the All India Criminal Code, which applied to all citizens, irrespective of religion.
- Further, it recommended that a uniform civil code be set up. Following this, Bano's husband appealed in the Supreme Court, stating that he had fulfilled all his obligations under the Islamic law.
- After the court's judgement, nationwide meetings and agitations were held. Under pressure, the then government passed the Muslim Women’s (Right to protection on divorce) Act (MWA) in 1986, which made Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code inapplicable to Muslim women.
Why are people opposing the UCC?
- The main argument against the UCC is that it violates the constitutional freedom to practice the religion of choice, which allows religious communities to follow their respective personal laws. For example, Article 25 gives every religious group the right to manage its own affairs, and Article 29 gives them the right to conserve their distinct culture.
- Secondly, it is argued that if codified civil laws and criminal laws such as the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) don't follow ‘one nation, one law’, then how can this diktat be applied to personal laws of communities? For example, the law of anticipatory bail differs from one state to another.
- Experts argue that the UCC will impose a 'Hinduised' code for all communities. For example, a UCC could include provisions for family disputes on property inheritance, which may be in line with Hindu customs and will legally force other communities to follow the same.
- The UCC is likely to bring multiple changes to the Muslim Personal Law, including the abolition of polygamy practices.
- However, some experts feel that a uniform civil code will help in integrating India more than it has ever been since independence. It will help in bringing Indians, regardless of their caste, religion or tribe, under one national civil code of conduct. They also feel that a UCC will help in improving the condition of women in India.
Has any state implemented the UCC?
- UCC is in force only in the state of Goa. The Goa Civil Code was given by the Portuguese in 1867.
- However, Uttarakhand is set to be the first state in post-Independent to implement UCC. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has vowed to implement UCC in Assam and Gujarat as well.
What has the Law Commission said?
- In 2016, the Union government had requested the Law Commission of India to determine how to form a code in the presence of “thousands of personal laws” in the country.
- In 2018, the Law Commission submitted a 185-page consultation paper on the reform of family law. The paper stated that a unified nation did not necessarily need “uniformity”, adding that secularism could not contradict the plurality prevalent in the country. The Commission noted that the term “secularism” had meaning only if it assured the expression of any form of difference.
- While saying that a UCC "is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage", the Law Commission recommended that discriminatory practices, prejudices, and stereotypes within a particular religion and its personal laws should be studied and amended.
- Some of these amendments include fixing the marriageable age for boys and girls at 18 years so that they are married as equals, making adultery a ground for divorce for men and women and simplifying the divorce procedure.
Scientists develop 2 new polio vaccines to help eradicate viral disease
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Why in news?
- Scientists have developed two novel oral polio vaccines (nOPVs) that will bolster the World Health Organization's most recent push to finally eradicate the viral disease.
- The two nOPVs are made from weakened poliovirus that has been genetically engineered to reduce reversion to dangerous forms of the virus.
About Polio
- Polio is usually asymptomatic, but can cause severe disability, paralysis or death in about one in every hundred children.
- It spreads via fecal or oral particles, so it is particularly problematic in regions with poor sanitation.
- The first effective polio vaccines emerged in the 1950s, kicking off massive campaigns to immunise every person, with an emphasis on children.
Wildtype:
- While the original, or wildtype, poliovirus has only been recently detected in Afghanistan and Pakistan, vaccine-derived polio has been detected in countries as far flung as Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the US.
- There have been more cases of vaccine-derived polio than wildtype in recent years, creating an urgency to counter this new source of polio.
nOPV2 vaccine:
- The nOPV2 vaccine developed by the team earned the WHO's first-ever emergency use listing in 2020 and was quickly manufactured and distributed.
- Despite its effectiveness, nOPV2 only protects against one of three strains of polio, and cases of polio have recently emerged in Israel, which is heavily vaccinated, as well as in pockets of the US where people refuse to vaccinate their kids.
New vaccines:
- The latest work from Andino's group takes the solution they crafted for nOPV2the three mutations that usually prevent the vaccine from becoming dangerous over timeand engineers it into the other two types of OPV.
- The resulting vaccines, nOPV1 and nOPV3, effectively prevented polio in animal models. All three are much safer than the original OPVs, which can occasionally cause paralysis in those who get the vaccine, although this is rare.
Way Forward:
- The two new vaccines are currently being tested in clinical trials to ensure that they are both effective and do not revert to dangerous forms in humans.
- Andino is hopeful they will be incorporated into bivalent or trivalent combinations with nOPV2.
